The Weekly Watch

Sold Down the River...Again!

This 3.5 minute clip says it well -

COVID-19 has been great for the billionaire class, and a disaster for the working people of the US. Other countries managed to contain and control the virus, but the US continues to demonstrate its incompetence.
Not only are cases increasing...

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...so are deaths.

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...despite claims we've seen to the contrary.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

The congress critters can't seem to get it together to provide any relief as the pandemic grows and the economy collapses. Better nothing than the bill they were considering in the Senate which included funding for a new FBI building, fighter jets, and the establishment of a so called "Trust" committee designed to cut social security and medicare.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/28/utter-disgrace-gop-proposes...

The pandemic continues to be managed for the benefit of the oligarchs. From the get go, they delayed a testing program until big pharma held the patent for a US test. Then they sell record numbers of masks to China early in the outbreak while telling US citizens masks don't work and you don't need one. They continue to disallow the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). We might want to look at countries that are using HCQ looking at their death rates (HCQ use is in green)

Hydroxychloroquine-Use-By-Countries-version-2.jpg

Countries using hydroxychloroquine have low coronavirus fatality rate compared to countries that don’t, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons says
https://techstartups.com/2020/07/23/countries-using-hydroxychloroquine-l...
HCQ is cheap and generic. Nor has the FDA approved ivermectin (another inexpensive drug) which has been shown to be an effective treatment. This clip explains a possible mechanism of how ivermectin prevents clotting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk7KNBak-i0&t=6m30s

Dr. Tarek Alam, a highly respected physician and professor of Medicine at Bangladesh Medical College (BMC), used two economical and easily available drugs to treat patients suffering from COVID-19 with considerable success in not only reducing the patients’ viral load, but also cutting the severity of their cases. Dr. Alam, who kindly did an interview with TrialSite News, reports that 98% of his COVID-19 patients are cured by the combined use of anti-parasitic drug ivermectin and antibiotic #Doxycycline within 4 to 14 days. As Dr. Alam reported to the TrialSite, he secured BMC approved protocol to use this combination to great success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE7RqQR9f_w (17 min)

Instead of inexpensive yet effective treatments, they recommend Remdesiver at over $3000 per treatment.
Remdesivir COVID-19 Sales to Hit $1 to $3 billion in 2020

Disappointing results emerged from the first gold-standard clinical trial for remdesivir, which found that the drug did not help patients in China with severe COVID-19. Those findings were published April 29 in The Lancet medical journal.
On the same day, drugmaker Gilead Sciences announced positive early findings from a U.S.-designed clinical trial being conducted at 180 sites around the world.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200429/remdesivir-covid-studies-find-d...

Then there's the real cash cow...a vaccine.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tra...
Merith Basey discusses the Vaccine Games...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqmgboBsh_U (18 min)

So I continue to contend that the pandemic is being managed for profit in the US. All the while creating the largest transfer of wealth to the elite in our history.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/26/looting-america-big-corpora...
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/11/wolv-a11.html
This time around they seem to have failed to get their 'cut social security and medicare' relief bill through. Democrats and Republicans each blamed the other for their inability to come to an agreement, leaving out-of-work Americans in limbo as the vital benefits came to a halt. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/31/coronavirus-stim...

moving targets.png

Meanwhile TPTB await the bankruptcy of the postal service, the only business written into the constitution.

A 2018 White House plan includes raising the price of stamps and package delivery, reducing worker wages and benefits, decreasing the number of delivery days and ending the obligation to deliver everywhere.
And now, USPS is under new leadership. Louis DeJoy, a former fundraiser for the Republican National Committee, took over as postmaster general in June. He was selected by the USPS Board of Governors, whose members were nominated by President Donald Trump and approved by the Senate.
But if the White House or DeJoy are serious about making changes, they’ll have to get lawmakers on board. Congress has to approve any changes to the rules of operation.

https://www.wdbj7.com/2020/07/08/bailout-or-raise-prices-the-battle-over...
Lisa Graves describes the Koch's decades long effort to kill this well functioning portion of government.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8AJ3frjWtI (30 min)
More on the USPS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouCocnSBTRY (12 min)

Now we sit on the brink of massive evictions and foreclosures. This fall is going to be very chaotic as the system falls apart. Jimmy explains in 7 minutes.

Lee Camp explains that As 28 Million Evictions Loom, Houses Sit Empty Everywhere!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsf_o0LqcvU (12 min)

Rick Wolff discusses Milton Friedman's statement that corporations should have no morality.

"Milton Friedman said it was foolish to expect a legal fiction such as a corporation to have a moral sense. The moral sense, he said, was resident in the people operating the corporations. Why is the trouble with capitalism systemic and not simply an indictment of the people who feel compelled to seek all power and profit through it? Why can't capitalism work with completely honest and moral people? There surely are decent, honest and moral people in sufficient numbers to operate the economy. What prohibits this from happening?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLBGhJ4UpJ0 (9 min)
Well, the corporations certainly have no morality...

The economy is in shambles and the dollar is losing its dominance. Max and Stacy describe it as a nuclear monetary policy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f93hotTIfnU (15 min)

They have long been proponents of bitcoin and gold. This fellow suggests bitcoin and blockchain may be the basis of a new economy. He thinks infrastructure inversion provides a model. For example when the automobile came along there were only dirt roads and no gas stations, or when electricity came about there was no grid for the supply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXIaILHl7Rg (27 min)

Bitcoin has its attractions. No government control, global transfers without oversight nor fees, limited availability and therefore it holds value. In fact it has really gained value as the global economy continues to stumble.

George Gammon compares dollars, gold, and bitcoin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8-qnjAlQpg (19 min)

Are we in a crypto and metals bubble? China is trying to become the blockchain leader.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9SLqXoFwDE&t=1m51s (5 min or so)

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Before I bought a little gold a few years ago, I asked my friend the judge what he thought about it. He admitted to having gold too, but suggested it is things of real use that will have value if things collapse. I realized our garden with 30 years of added fertility, the tools I've acquired over the years, the skills I have, my network of friends and associates, our lack of debt...these are the real things of value I have. The more I think about what money is, the weirder it becomes to me....pieces of paper said to have value.

My training as a soil scientist led me to understand soil, not oil, is the most important resource. It is the management of the land that provides stable water retention and use. Soil is the primary water pollutant and sediment deposits in our rivers account for most of the extinctions in Alabama, mainly mussels and amphibians. There is a means of production that not only retains soil, but builds fertility known as "regenerative agriculture". Just as we need a new approach to our economy, we need a new approach to our food production system. (23 min)

Gabe Brown is proponent and disciple of regenerative farming. He was named one of the 25 Most influential Agricultural Leaders in the United States. Gabe recently published, “Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture”, where he shares the story of healing his farm’s soil and paves the road for other farmers to follow in his footsteps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFHnVgO0xPY&t=1m50s (56 min)

And now for something completely different just for fun
...an interview with Jeff Bridges.
The Dude Abides....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgBDGrw9ajY (35 min)

I titled this piece Sold Down the River. This 1859 song was as popular as "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and it tells the real story of being sold down the river...


One night I went to see her, but she's gone the neighbors say
The white man had bound her with his chain
They have taken her to Georgia to wear her life away
As she toils in the cotton and the cane...

I enjoy playing and singing this one. It is good to be reminded of how horrible things have been to keep perspective on our situation today. There's a reason we still struggle with the idea that black lives matter. Thanks to our invasion of Libya, there are now open slave markets there, so it's not like things have improved that much on a global basis. I used the title as a metaphor of what has happened to our society and government. Perhaps a better title might have been 'sold out to the corporations and oligarchs', for that is certainly the case. We can look at foreign policy as we did last week and our domestic approach to clearly see the abject failure of "government of the people, by the people, for the people" because the word oligarchs has replaced the word people. Seeing the way forward in this fundamentally corrupt and rigged system is difficult. Danny Sjursen describes how and why the social fabric is unraveling in his piece this week.

America is nothing if not a peculiar nation; one befitting its original sin of racialized chattel slavery — a practice historians have long dubbed the “peculiar institution.” Should one accept that the U.S. is indeed exceptional, it’s seemingly so in all the wrong ways. Surely, it’s no accident that scholars now label another of America’s aberrant behaviors — the death penalty, abolished by 70 percent of the world’s nations, and every European Union member — as a “peculiar institution.” Back when I shepherded select students from my civil rights class to Louisiana’s infamous Angola State Penitentiary, they were shocked to learn that an executed prisoner’s cause of death is listed as “homicide” on the official certificate. Is a country capable of such state barbarism — joining Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq on that score — really above spiraling sectarian violence?

I would suggest now is time to take a look at the real things of value in our lives. Build a resource base for the uncertain future in these volatile times. I wish us all well, and hope we can somehow transition to a regenerative future.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

Benjamin Russell Hanby, co-conductor (with his father) on the Underground Railroad.

I say he's a "relative" but I can't prove exactly how - have my suspicions that he's descended from a Hanby who left the Eastern Shore early to wander about and settle in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately there's a generation missing with zero documentation. Oh well.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Lookout's picture

@TheOtherMaven

at least according to this fellow
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYEARDfn8z0]
didn't think much of his singing, but enjoyed his history story.

Good to "see" you this morning.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

magiamma's picture

And everyone

That other crisis. That one that has been going on since the turn of the last century or so.

Here is a study that tracks changes in the gravity field of the Earth to quantify the mass loss of all of the GIC outside Greenland and Antarctica.

Really.

It reports a -.5 inch of sea level rise equivalent in 17.33 yr. And shows an acceleration in the rate of melt of glaciers and ice caps equivalent to adding an extra .0005 inches of sea level rise every decade.

Again this does not include Antarctica or Greenland which have far greater reservoirs of ice.

Most importantly it points to an acceleration in the melting. And that the global glacier melt is raising sea levels as it depletes once-reliable water sources.

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-global-glacier-sea-depletes-once-reliable....

Thanks for the Sunday roundup. Covid are us. More now killed than 50 9/11s. Love the report for our honest government. Hanging in there together. At least the fed left Portland. Too many moms and vets. Lol.

Take good care and have a good one.

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Lookout's picture

@magiamma

sure doesn't bode well for our approach to the accelerating climate chaos. Currently we remain in the denial stage.

Hope all is well in your corner. Our scene is good but COVID is appearing here in the boonies. Maybe folks will wake up and put on a mask.

Take care and be well.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

magiamma's picture

@Lookout
Has joined the rest of CA and re-closed gyms, hair salons. etc. And our beaches are still open though. And folks are not wearing masks.

Sorry to hear it’s reaching into your area. Here too though reaching into the far unpopulated corners.

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Lookout's picture

@magiamma
it is about 30 min.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dWLLGWs6_Q]
At the end, he is caught in the myth of our food supply being based on grain production and doesn't know about regenerative ag, but he understands resources. The other thing that came to my mind is the difference between happy lives and monetary accumulation. Is poverty an an accurate way to evaluate the quality of life experience? Certainly poverty can cause suffering, but living on a homestead ain't going to make you financially rich, but can enrich your diet, peace of mind, and so on. Anyway I found this thought provoking.

Here's part 1 if you liked that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hi9xYSCwZ8

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

magiamma's picture

@Lookout
Will listen later. Been researching filtration ponds, fields, trenches. Flooding now in back of house now due to atmospheric rivers. Way bigger each year. Have a trench that I dig bigger each year plus a small (3' diameter) catchment, both of which overflow each year because of increased rains. Somewhat clayee (sp) soil so really does not soak in. Lots comes now from above parking lot and roof across neighbors yard. Blech. Anyway. Thinking of a 3' deep trench. 1 foot wide filled with wood chips with a berm on the other side. Sandy loam at 3' depth. Pipe out of fake pond towards preserve and maybe a dispersion field/pond/whatever. Holy shit. Feel like I am getting a phd or something. Anyway here's a video by the guy that our local guy likes. What do you think of him?

[video:https://youtu.be/I2xDZlpInik?t=146]

btw, the garden is producing more than I can eat. Ak. Must store. Squash. Beans. So far. Lol

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Lookout's picture

@magiamma

the garden is producing more than I can eat. Ak. Must store. Squash. Beans. So far.

The freezer is my friend this time of year.

Brad the water harvester is a master of dry land water collection. We have an entirely different situation here with 50-70 inches of rain per year. Our deal is keeping deep rooted cover (mainly trees) to cause water to perc. In clayey soils organic matter is your friend....wood chip, leaves, anything you can get for free. As you suggest, starting with a collection system based on the elevation/contours is the place to start. Spillways are easier to maintain than piping in my experience. Best of luck. PM me if I can be more helpful.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

magiamma's picture

@Lookout

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Here is the new data point:

Deaths per week in the United States (source):

wk ending July 4: 3,425
wk ending July 11: 4,610 (35% increase over previous wk)
wk ending July 18: 5,163 (12% increase over previous wk)
wk ending July 25: 6,261 (21% increase over previous wk)
wk ending Aug 01: 7,985 (28% increase over previous wk)

That's not a good number. We are averaging 1,100-1,300 deaths per day now. (Edit to change "week" into "day" here--sorry, coffee hadn't kicked in yet . . .)

And just so everyone is aware, I'm choosing to use wikipedia's numbers because they come directly from state health authority sites (and are then consolidated daily). This seems pretty reliable and consistent.

I know Wikipedia is showing only 143,261 deaths, and a week ago the Worldometer site was already claiming 150,000 deaths in the US, but I'm not confident with their sources. Whatever is true, at least Wikipedia has been consistent in their sourcing.

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magiamma's picture

@apenultimate

The United States recorded more than 1.9 million new infections in July, nearly 42 percent of the more than 4.5 million cases reported nationwide since the pandemic began and more than double the number documented in any other month, according to data compiled by The New York Times. The previous monthly high came in April, when more than 880,000 new cases were recorded.

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Lookout's picture

@apenultimate

Wikipedia has become a bulletin board for corporate and imperial interests under the watch of its Randian founder, Jimmy Wales, and the veteran US regime-change operative who heads the Wikimedia Foundation, Katherine Maher.
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/11/meet-wikipedias-ayn-rand-loving-found...

CIA and corporate hacks troll entries to keep their slant prevalent. I do use it on occation, but am careful about what I source from them. My 2 cents anyway.

Here's worldometers source info...
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/about/

Our data is also trusted and used by the UK Government, Johns Hopkins CSSE, the Government of Thailand, the Government of Vietnam, the Government of Pakistan, Financial Times, The New York Times, Business Insider, BBC, and many others.

Over the past 15 years, our statistics have been requested by, and provided to Oxford University Press, Wiley, Pearson, CERN, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), The Atlantic, BBC, Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology, Science Museum of Virginia, Morgan Stanley, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Dell, Kaspersky, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Amazon Alexa, Google Translate, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the U2 concert, and many others.

Glad you came by this morning!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

The Wikipedia sources are right there and can be checked--they link directly to the state health authority websites. I did a check a couple months ago, and the data on Wikipedia aligned with the state sites perfectly.

Unless the CIA is manipulating state sites, I think (for this information, anyways) Wikipedia is fine and accurate.

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Lookout's picture

@apenultimate

as does the NYT which is why I'm using them. Marie recommended them and I think it is as reliable as they come. No doubt wiki has something that is consistent. Each to their own data source. The issue is that cases and deaths are increasing. However it is increasing at a decreasing rate.

You might enjoy the first few minutes. Best thing I've tuned into on COVID recently.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUrLJjcfAhk&t=2m50s]
Kinda nerdy but I listened to most of it as I worked on dinner prep and clean up.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

OzoneTom's picture

According to this Obama administration lawyer, Daniel Jacobson:

These USPS shenanigans are something the House can fix if it has the willpower. The Supreme Court has explained that Congress can enact "all measures necessary to secure [the] safe and speedy transit [of mail] and the prompt delivery of its contents." Ex Parte Jackson (1878)

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@OzoneTom
And the President can veto any measure that the Senate does agree to.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

lotlizard's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness  
That was important! That was the opportunity to fix all the various things that needed to be fixed. Instead we got “Look forward not back,” the Catfood Commission, and RomneyCare.

And now, Biden? From Delaware, the state that’s been corporations’ legal shield-carrier since forever? Really? That’s our hope and salvation?

Let’s face it — even when they can, Dems never fix anything because they don’t wanna.

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Lookout's picture

@lotlizard

as Jimmy says...we are a rapacious oligarchy.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

OzoneTom's picture

According to this Obama administration lawyer, Daniel Jacobson:

These USPS shenanigans are something the House can fix if it has the willpower. The Supreme Court has explained that Congress can enact "all measures necessary to secure [the] safe and speedy transit [of mail] and the prompt delivery of its contents." Ex Parte Jackson (1878)

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Lookout's picture

@OzoneTom
... if it has the willpower.

Some are suggesting they want it dysfunctional by the election so mail in ballots will be late. I think it is that the government haters like the Koch's don't like parts of the system to function for the people....cause they might want more. Same reason there is a war against public schools. Although as a retired teacher I can say some schools are more functional than others usually along economic/racial lines.

Good to "see" you today.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Azazello's picture

I got some stuff this morning.
Official US government propaganda from RadioFreeEurope:
Pompeo Says U.S. Will 'Do Everything' To Stop Nord Stream 2 Project

"We will do everything we can to make sure that that pipeline doesn't threaten Europe," Pompeo told a senate hearing on July 30, adding: "We want Europe to have real, secure, stable, safe energy resources that cannot be turned off in the event Russia wants to."

Looks like Europe doesn't see the "threat" posed by cheap natural gas.
This just came up this morning, I look forward to the documentary:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMwmpu1PK-4 width:500 height:300]
From my local paper:
Mask-phobic freedom warrior Louie Gohmert came down with the covid, then this:
Tucson Congressman Raúl Grijalva tests positive for COVID-19
BORTAC, the Border Patrol's tactical unit, has been in the news a bunch of late. It's worth remembering that the only union in the country that endorsed Donald Trump for President was the Border Patrol union. Here's what they're doing in my area:
Border Patrol raids migrant aid camp in Arivaca

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Lookout's picture

@Azazello

Hell the whole federal government is out of control.

Thanks for all the links. The raid on the aid camp has become typical of our behavior...wrong. We do need another look at 2008...when we bailed out banks instead of homeowners.

Jimmy has a good rant about Snopes
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC_EO45mPEE]

Noticed it has been hot out your way. Stay cool and be well!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

OzoneTom's picture

@Azazello
With trailer and information on RSVP-ing for the online premiere:
https://www.thecon.tv/

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Lookout's picture

The Con is an in-depth investigation into the 2008 financial crisis nine years in the making, Who did it, why it happened and how our country went from “of, for and by the people,” to “of, for and by the corporation.” And what’s past is prologue: The heist of our democracy that includes fraudulent practices, massive credit card debt, student loans, auto loans, and the revolving door between finance and government, is still going on, and will become even worse than before.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

mimi's picture

provide the service for applicationa to renew passports for citizens whose passports have been expired. Since March 1rst. Trapped. But who would ever want to leave the United States? amirite?

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@mimi
but maybe they just didn't take the sign down. I noticed it earlier in the week, but didn't ask anyone if it was current.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

OzoneTom's picture

@mimi
In other countries you have to go to an embassy or consulate.

Here is a page with the qualifications and steps to renew in the U.S. and Canada: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew...

The requirements in other countries may vary depending on the embassy or consulate.

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Lookout's picture

https://www.internations.org/expat-insider/2018/us-americans-abroad-39625

While love is the most frequently mentioned motivation for relocating (17%), about one in eleven US expats (9%) say that a better quality of life was their main reason for moving abroad. In fact, almost half the expats from the US (49%) say they considered healthcare standards a potential benefit before relocating, compared to the average of 40%. It is therefore no surprise that a staggering 47% completely agree that healthcare in their respective host country is affordable compared to the worldwide average of 27%.

Hope all is well with you across the pond. Plenty to keep me busy here and I happily putter around.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

98% of his COVID-19 patients are cured

But if the 98% holds, it will have cut the death rate in half.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

enhydra lutris's picture

my liking. The garden is giving us fits right now, but that will pass. I really need a brute of a soil auger and a way to stabilize it, but that is a project for the next life I fear. Did get the solar panels washed though, can't believe how dirty they got since the lat heavy rain.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Covers a lot of ground, fast.
I downloaded it so I don't have to keep feeding the googletube monster.

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